Video: Working with multiple hard drives

It is typical for almost all photographers to work with multiple hard drives. Therefore, here we're going to explore how we can work with multiple hard drives and also how we can work with what's called the Volume browser inside of the Folder panel in the Library module. Well, the first thing that I need to do, of course, is import some photographs from another hard drive. So, we'll go through the import process that we've seen before. I'll click on the Import button in the lower left-hand corner of Lightroom here in the Library module. I am going to import images from this hard drive, which I've named sashimi and then I have a sub folder titled photo_library.

Join photographer and author Chris Orwig in Photoshop Lightroom 4 Essentials: Organizing and Sharing with the Library Module, as he explores the interface of this popular image-management program and shows how to use its Library module to organize and manage a photo library. The course covers importing both still images and video; shooting in tethered-capture mode; organizing and rating images with flags, stars, labels, and location tags; and working with collections. The course also details how to export, email, and share photos, and introduces the Lightroom 4 video-editing features, as well as its ability to work together with the full editing power of Photoshop. Exercise files are included with the course.

Working with multiple hard drives

It is typical for almost all photographers to work with multiple hard drives.Therefore, here we're going to explore how we can work with multiple hard drivesand also how we can work with what's called the Volume browser inside of theFolder panel in the Library module.Well, the first thing that I need to do, of course, is import some photographsfrom another hard drive.So, we'll go through the import process that we've seen before.I'll click on the Import button in the lower left-hand corner of Lightroom herein the Library module.I am going to import images from this hard drive, which I've named sashimi andthen I have a sub folder titled photo_library.

Now, what I want to do with these pictures is simply add them to the Lightroom catalog.In other words, we want our photographs to stay on the external hard drive.We don't want to move them off of that, they can stay there.We just want Lightroom to know that that hard drive and this folder on that hard drive exist.Next, on the right-hand side, we'll do our usual File Handling settings andApply During Import, add a little bit of metadata. Sure!Next step is to simply click Import.Now, once Lightroom picks up these files, you'll notice that there's anew Volume browser.

I am going to go ahead and close these two-volume browsers just so we can focusin on what we have here.For starters, you'll notice there's a little green light to the left of the hard drive name.Now, this light is actually pretty helpful, because here's what it's telling us.If it's green, well, there's 10 gigabytes or more of space free;if it's yellow, well, less than 10 gigabytes of space is free;if it's orange, less than 5 gigabytes of space is free;and then if it turns red, that's when you really need to start thinkingabout using a different hard drive, well, then it has less than 1 gigabyte of space free.

You know you never want to fill a hard drive all the way up.Really if it gets to that orange light you want to start thinking about usinganother hard drive and not filling it up or kind of over filling that drive with information.Next, on the right-hand side, we have some information.We have information, in this case, about the data on the drive, and you canright-click or Ctrl+click and you can choose different Volume Info.Currently, it's on Disk Space.You can choose Photo Count.It'll update both of these or we can choose Status, is it Online or Offline,or of course we can simply select None, which will take all of that information off.

Now I tend to prefer to have at least some sort of information there, because Ithink it can be valuable to say okay, well, how full is this drive, how muchdata do I have on that drive and it gives you kind of a heads up in regards tothinking about when you may need to add another drive to your workflow.A couple of other things I want to highlight here is that if we go aheadand open up this Volume browser, we can see we have a number of different photographs.Now, what's interesting about this is we can do really anything that we wantto do in Lightroom.We could go to Develop Module, we could go to the Slideshow, we could create anonline web gallery, because this drive is connected.

Yet what can happen sometimes is that this drive may not be turned on or itmay be disconnected.Let's go ahead and take a look at that scenario.In order to do that, I am going to right-click or Ctrl+click on this Volumebrowser and choose Show in Finder or Explorer and then I am going to eject the hard drive.So, I'll go ahead and do that by clicking on this Eject button here or byright-clicking or Ctrl+ clicking and choosing Eject.Now, once this is ejected, if I go back to Lightroom what will happen in thesecond is this will become grayed out.

It will tell me that this hard drive is actually offline, in other words,it isn't plugged in.What's interesting though is I can still continue to work with these files.So, I am going to open up a larger view of this.I could scroll through these images.I could also add star ratings to these.Let's say we want to add a two star to this one and maybe a three star to this one.We could go ahead and add different types of metadata to these files.We could also work with keywording or adding comments to these pictures.So, there's still a lot that you can do.

Compare this for a second to the Adobe Bridge.If you're working with the Adobe Bridge and a hard drive is turned off, wellthere is nothing you can do.You can't view files, you can't access files, you can't do really anything.But Lightroom, because of the catalog, it has this built-in memory, and that'sone of the beauties, one of the reasons why so many people like Lightroombecause we still have access to the files.We can still view them and work with them in some really fascinating ways.The other thing that's helpful is sometimes what will happen is this.I am going to go to my Catalog panel here and just look at All Photographs.

And let's say that as I am looking through these photographs, I am justscrolling through everything that I have in my library and I come across onethat I want to work with, and let's say it's this one here, this sunrise shot.Well, all of a sudden I see this little question mark (?) next to it.What that question mark (?)is telling me is that there's some sort of problem with this file.Well, I am not exactly sure what the problem is but I am guessing it's on one ofmy five hard drives, which is turned off, because a lot of times we have anumber of different hard drives.Well, I don't really know which hard drive it is.

Well, there're a couple of different ways we can find that out.One way is to right-click or Ctrl+click and then choose Go to Folder in the Library.What this will do is it will take me to that folder and then I can say oh, yeah,that was on this particular hard drive.I'll go ahead and flip the switch on that one and I'll be on my way in order towork on that image or in order to be able to work on it and then export it tosend it to a client, because if the hard drive isn't plugged in, there's a lot Ican't do, no develop settings, no exporting, etcetera. You get the gist.

I can't print the pictures.So again, this gives me a really handy way to know which of my drives that's onand this is really helpful if you have multiple hard drives.Okay, well, let's go back to perhaps another scenario.Go to All Photographs and let's say we pick another picture, this one here.And we're looking at this picture and it tells us this one is offline or missing.It's not part of this library.Well, another thing that you can do is if you go back to the Grid View, you canclick on this little question mark (?).

This will say, this file can't be used because the original file can't be found.Would you like to locate it?In this case, yeah, sure.the previous location was on a hard drive which was called sashimi. Okay, great!Yeah, that's right.I forgot to turn that one on.I'll go ahead and flip the switch on the hard drive and then I'll be on my way.So there you can see there're a couple of ways to really reverse engineer orfigure out where these files are saved or which hard drives they're on in orderto then turn that hard drive on.

And the beauty of this is that, of course, we can start to view these files andwork with them regards to metadata or adding labels or stars, but even more, wedon't really have to necessarily remember where they're saved, so we can haveall of these different hard drives.We don't have to have all of those hard drives on at once because both you and Iknow the more we have a hard drive on, the shorter its lifespan because harddrives have a limited lifespan.So, in this way, I can only have my essential hard drives on and then if I havesome files that are archives on other hard drives, well, I can have those offand then only turn them on as needed.

The last thing I want to point out here is that you can of course expand andcollapse these various volume browsers, and then if ever you decide to stopusing images on a hard drive, let's say, for example that unfortunately thesashimi hard drive, well, it was lost or stolen or it died.Well, if you need to remove this from your Lightroom catalog, from yourLibrary, you can select the folder and then click the minus button (-), thiswill then remove that folder.I'll go ahead and do that and it will also remove the Volume browser just kindof clean everything up.

So, now the Folders panel just displays those hard drives which are active,those hard drives which we want to work with.

There are currently no FAQs about Lightroom 4 Essentials: 01 Organizing and Sharing with the Library Module.

Learn by watching, listening, and doing, Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along Premium memberships include access to all exercise files in the library.

Already a member ?

Learn by watching, listening, and doing! Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along. Exercise files are available with all Premium memberships.
Learn more

Upgrade to our Annual Premium Membership today and get even more value from your lynda.com subscription:

“In a way, I feel like you are rooting for me. Like you are really invested in my experience, and want me to get as much out of these courses as possible this is the best place to start on your journey to learning new material.”— Nadine H.

Thanks for signing up.

We’ll send you a confirmation email shortly.

Sign up and receive emails about lynda.com and our online training library:

new course releases

newsletter

general communications

special notices

Here’s our privacy policy with more details about how we handle your information.

Keep up with news, tips, and latest courses with emails from lynda.com.

Sign up and receive emails about lynda.com and our online training library:

new course releases

newsletter

general communications

special notices

Here’s our privacy policy with more details about how we handle your information.